Static
by One Hit Wonders Anonymous
Summary: Peridot has a lot to learn about Earth and those who inhabit it. Some things captivate her attention more than others: the organic life forms, the sunsets, and a gem named Amethyst. She had never been good about understanding her own feelings. Amethyst only made it more difficult. / Amedot one-shot, pure fluff!


Hello and welcome to my little amedot one-shot! I had a dream that went something like this, so I just had to write it down. Please enjoy!

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 **Static**

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Tiny shoeless feet padded gently over dirt and grass. Her steps were quick, determined, and careful. She needed to be fast to avoid being sighted by her allies. She wanted her moment alone, which she had begun to rely on to decompress after hard work with her former enemies. It was not always easy working with them.

The day had been long and tiresome. Finally, the daylight was shrinking and signaling a time for rest. Peridot sat down gingerly over soft grass and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply.

The Earth's rotations passed so quickly compared to the ones on Homeworld. Peridot had needed a while to adjust to the pace. Maybe that was why her sense of urgency was seemingly overzealous compared to the others. Now though, the days took their time.

Peridot opened her eyes, and took in everything around her. The tall grasses that peppered the beach in tiny tufts were rippling in a gentle breeze. Steven's shirts weaved back and forth in the wind on a hanging line to dry. A small beetle made a quiet buzzing sound as it took off into the sky, letting the wind carry it forward. Out of everything, though, Peridot had to admit that the Earth's star, the sun, was the most breathtaking.

Earth's sunrise and sunset were unique side effects of its atmosphere. Their artfulness was truly profound. She had struggled to describe them to her audio log the first time she had seen them. Color had never had such an impact on her before. Of course, her life had always had some color, but it had never held so much power, so much meaning and so many feelings before. It was foolish, maybe, to think of color that way. Earth was making her feel foolish more and more each day. She chuckled to herself quietly.

She laid down flat on her back and crossed her arms behind her head the way Steven had shown her. It was comfortable. They had all taught her so much in the little time she had been here. It was surely more than she had ever learned in her many years of teaching on Homeworld. She guessed that crash-landing on a planet could change you.

"Hey, P-dot, whatcha doin' all the way out here?" Peridot jumped upright and yelped in surprise, whipping her head around to see the quartz gem, Amethyst, walking up beside her. She laughed at her, throwing her head back in the way she always did with the sound she always made that sounded like a gnashing machine. Steven had called it 'snorting' when she'd asked. "Did I scare ya?"

Peridot glared, but it was only half-hearted. "I was simply enjoying the Earth's sunset, _alone."_ She emphasized her intention to _stay alone_ in the hopes that Amethyst would go away, but it didn't deter her at all. She plopped down next to her and stretched her legs out, leaning back on her palms. Amethyst sighed and looked to Peridot, who looked away quickly to hide that she'd been staring. A blush settled on her cheeks.

It wasn't that she was hot in temperature, but more that the Amethyst had a certain charm about her that the other gems simply didn't have. Her eyes were so sincere and full of life. Peridot really liked watching her talk to others, because then she could really focus on the way they expressed her emotions so broadly and strongly. Her smile stretched her plump lips without diminishing them and it tugged at Peridot's chest in a way she couldn't ignore. What all of this meant, she had no idea. All she knew was that the wind was starting to feel extra cold against her face. She buried it in her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs tightly.

Silence sat between them for several minutes while they both watched the sky transform. It had more colors than usual today, Peridot noted. They were painted on the clouds that were passing slowly by. The sun was sinking into the ocean and taking its colors with it.

"Everyone really likes sitting up here." Amethyst said, and Peridot nearly jumped a second time. Embarrassed, she shifted her visor and grunted in response. "It looks really nice right about now, huh?" She continued, disregarding Peridot's silence. "I think they like it a little more than me, Pearl and Garnet I mean. I think it's because since I've only ever lived here, it's not as incredible to me. More like a fact of life, I guess." Amethyst yawned, covering her mouth with her hand, and fell back to the grass the way Peridot had been before she came.

Peridot cleared her throat in an attempt to ease her discomfort, but it didn't help. "So, you have never left this planet." She confirmed. It was an odd thing to consider, when gems were so innately tailored to travel the stars. Amethyst nodded.

"Yep. The warp pads are broken, and we needed to steer clear of Homeworld anyway. Ya know, old rebellion and junk." She punched the air a few times, and Peridot thought it looked kind of silly, especially while she was lying on her back.

"I see," Peridot said, not sure what else to say. Amethyst always made it harder for her to speak, even though she could find nothing wrong with her vocal cords. She loosened her hold on her knees and sighed.

They lingered a while longer before Amethyst spoke up again. "What is it like, off of Earth?" She asked, her voice a little more timid that she was accustomed to hearing.

"Well, it's quite… different." Peridot decided. "A lot of the colonies lack organic life forms after we're done conquering their planets, so there isn't really any of this." She waved at the grass that surrounded them. "There are certainly no creatures like humans, either. I've only ever seen mostly completed colonies before; I've never seen anything like Earth. Everything is so colorful and different. I-it's nice." She stuttered, feeling vulnerable.

"Oh yeah?" Amethyst said. "I bet there's nothin' like a good old-fashioned Earth sunset anywhere else." She smiled and looked to Peridot. She was being rather candid for this interaction, Peridot noted. Usually she was all jokes and snarky comebacks, but this time was different. She seemed so calm compared to her overactive regular attitude. Maybe she was just tired.

"No, there isn't." Peridot said. "Most atmospheres do not carry the proper components to cause light to shift in such a way that colors appear this way." She pointed to the clouds. "They look pleasing with so many hues… These ones are the same color as you, Amethyst."

Peridot had hoped to impress with her knowledge, and maybe compliment with her latter comment, but Amethyst burst out laughing. Her face burned as her friend cackled at her, tears streaming from her eyes while she struggled to catch her breath. "What? Did I say something wrong?" She asked, concerned.

Amethyst gasped a few times. "No, no, no, Peri. It's just- you compared- you said I looked like a cloud!" She laughed hard again, and even though Peridot felt shame she also felt some happiness at the sound of her laughter, so she laughed quietly too. "Of course, that can be arranged." Amethyst said in a seductive tone, and with a quick flash she was a cloud with a face. She smirked and struck a pose with an arm she made out of clouds, and Peridot laughed louder at her silliness.

"How do I look Peri?" She asked in the same mocking humorous tone, and she struck several poses similar to the human builders of bodies that she had shown Peridot in a magazine once. "Do I look pleasing yet?" She smirked, and Peridot felt a moment of slight panic at the implication.

Before giving her a chance to answer, Amethyst poofed back to her regular body and landed gently on the grass, legs crossed. She had held onto her smirk. Peridot looked away briefly, attempting to divert Amethyst's gaze and hide her shameful expression that implied that she did very much look pleasing.

"It's gonna get dark soon, we should head back to the barn." Amethyst said, and she held out a hand for her to pull. Peridot went to take her hand, but stopped when a shock of acute pain touched her fingertip when it made contact with Amethyst's. She squeaked and backed away, holding her hand close.

"What was that?!" Peridot cried, her eyes narrowing. "If this is a type of weapon I will be _very_ disappointed to have to release my contractual agreement-"

"Peridot," Amethyst snickered, "I just shocked you. It's static."

Peridot blinked. "What? Explain." She remained hesitant. Even though her hand didn't really hurt, she kept it close to her chest for safety.

"Ah, well, I'm sure Pearl could explain it a lot better," Amethyst rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "but basically a little bit of electricity gets made sometimes and it'll 'shock' you when you touch something. It doesn't happen a lot. Have you really never felt that before?"

Bewildered, Peridot shook her head. "Contact is not made very often on Homeworld, and heavily discouraged. There are not many opportunities for something that is touch-based to happen."

Amethyst shrugged. She had her hand outstretched still, but Peridot was hesitant to take it now. "Here, let me show you." She started rubbing her hands furiously together between her hair. This phenomenon seemed more and more confusing with each step. Peridot was wary of her experiment.

"Okay, this might work, let's try it now. Ready? Touch my finger." She held out her pointer finger and Peridot eyed her carefully. Besides the laughter, she seemed genuine. "On three?" Amethyst suggested, and Peridot nodded. She held out her own finger, squeezed her eyes shut, and bit her lip. "One… Two… Three, bam!" Amethyst pressed her fingertip to Peridot's and sure enough, a spark zapped through their fingers.

Peridot gasped and pulled her hand back, looking over every inch for signs of electrocution, but there weren't any. It was such a minor shock that it had caused no damage. "Very interesting." She murmured. She looked up to see Amethyst smiling at her again.

"Go ahead and ask Pearl for the specifics on that one, I don't really know it or care," Amethyst said, waving it off. "It's fun though. I like to surprise Steven with it."

"Oh?" Peridot replied casually. She looked at Amethyst and saw her staring at the sky again. She wasn't paying attention. Peridot smiled to herself and held back a mischievous giggle. She began to rub her hands together the same way Amethyst had, as stealthily as she could. She wanted to surprise her, too.

She kept it going for a long time, hoping to get a good shock charged up to surprise her with. _'Maybe this will impress her more than my extensive scientific knowledge,'_ she thought with a smirk. Amethyst was, after all, an enthusiast of jokes.

"Amethyst," Peridot said coolly, "I think it's time to head back, like you said. I can see the first stars beginning to show." She had a hard time biting back her smile. She reached over to touch Amethyst's bare shoulder: pathway projected, target in sight-

"A-hah!" Amethyst grabbed Peridot's wrist faster than she could poke. Peridot gulped and tried to pull her arm away, but Amethyst had it tightly captured. "Nice try, Peri, but you gotta work harder than that to surprise me." Her smile was wicked and wide.

Peridot grumbled in frustration at her failure. "It appears I cannot impress you on any plane that you would appreciate." She said quietly, but she hoped Amethyst wouldn't hear.

"Impress me?" Amethyst asked, raising an eyebrow, and Peridot slapped her available palm to her brow. Of course she'd heard her. "Peridot, you don't have to impress me." She said, her face incredulous and curious.

Peridot struggled to find words to reply with. "But I… I really want you to like me. You are clearly my superior and I want to show you that I can perform above the average." She said sheepishly.

"Peridot, really? Are you still going on about me being a quartz? We gotta move past this. I'm no better than you or anyone else on the team." Amethyst shook her head slightly to accentuate her point.

"No, that's- that's not what I mean!" Peridot yelled, growling with irritation at her own inability to communicate. "You are clearly my superior, you cannot deny that! Your hair is softer and your eyes are beautiful. Your smile is so much better than any other. Statistically speaking, you are several percentage points more attractive than your peers or me! You're-" Peridot froze, eyes widening in horror. What was she doing? What kind of nonsense was she spewing? Was this why her cheeks kept flushing? She brought her hand up to clamp it over her mouth, as though more of her feelings would pour out of their own accord.

An uncomfortable silence slammed into Peridot like an Earth vehicle. "Peridot," Amethyst said, and she shuddered at the sound of her name of her lips.

"Amethyst..?" She asked hesitantly, wincing at the emotional trauma. What had she done?

"Do you really think all those things?" She asked. Her smile was gone, instead replaced with a very serious expression that resonated over all her features. Her eyes felt like they were piercing Peridot's chest. Why did she have to open her stupid mouth-

"A-ah… Well, I…" Peridot licked her lips nervously. She had backed herself into a metaphorical corner. This was bad.

At the same time, her thoughts were a whirlwind of realizations. As she'd accidentally spilled her feelings, she'd discovered them too. Amethyst's expression hadn't budged. She swallowed hard. She took a leap of faith. "Yes." She looked down at the grass and suddenly became very interested in watching it twitch in the wind.

"Hey. Earth to Peridot." She looked up nervously, afraid for what she'd see, but there was no reason to be afraid. Amethyst's face had melted into a warm smile again. Peridot's breath caught in her throat. The breeze had swept her hair over her shoulder in the most delicate way. Her cheeks were colored a slightly deeper purple that she almost didn't notice. Suddenly, her face was getting closer, and her wrist was let go in favor of her hand, and hair brushed her skin, and-

Amethyst's lips pressed against Peridot's gem for just a moment, just long enough to send a wave of shivers down her entire body, before she pulled away with a gasp. She raised a hand to her lips, and then burst out giggling. She'd gotten shocked on contact.

Peridot felt everything in her life slow to a stop. She felt numb in the most wonderful way, but she had no idea what it meant. She didn't know what _anything_ meant. Once again, Earth left her feeling like everything she had ever known was wrong.

"You got me!" She said between snorting giggles.

What? Oh, right. The static shock. She had gotten her after all. It was funny how distant that felt at this very moment.

"Anyway." Amethyst said, waving her hand in front of Peridot's eyes, and she refocused on her… subject of infatuation, she supposed it would be. "Thank you." Her smile was brimming with an authenticity that it rarely held. Peridot loved when it looked like that. Her chest swelled knowing it had been her to cause it.

"And for the record, Peri, I think you're way cuter than me." Amethyst smirked and Peridot felt herself blush wildly. It was embarrassing how much she'd been unable to control her body temperature at this point.

Amethyst stood and pulled Peridot up with the hand she had never let go of. Peridot mumbled a 'thanks,' and Amethyst had let her go and started walking back to the barn. Peridot hesitated, though.

She looked up at the sky, which had lost most of its strange coloration and faded to a darker blue. A handful of stars were twinkling above. She brought a hand up to her gem slowly and touched her fingertips to it, remembering the way Amethyst's soft lips had felt over it. This was a new level of foolishness, even for the Earth.

"Oh well," she sighed up at the sky and to no one in particular, "I don't have anything left to lose." Her mouth upturned in a gentle smile. _'There's still everything left to gain, then.'_

Peridot turned away from the sea and walked back toward the barn with a new spring in her step. Though the wonders of the planet Earth were still challenging her understanding every day, it seemed she had a lot more to learn about herself, too.

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Thanks for reading!


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